01/08/09

The Swiss Confederation was formed on this day in 1291. The Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1800. Slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire in 1834. The last entry in Anne Frank's diary was 1 August, 1944. In 1966, sniper Charles Whitman killed fifteen people from the clocktower at the University of Texas in Austin. MTV began broadcasting in 1981. Celebrating birthdays today: Robert Cray, Sam Mendes, Honeysuckle Weeks (the only actress I know of with a band named after her) and Bastian Schweinsteiger. It is Yorkshire Day -- felicitations to everyone in God's Own Country. Here's the first video ever shown on MTV: